According to a new survey of local authorities, English councils are preparing to sell community centers, sports centres, and shopping arcades as they bet on a rapid disposal of properties to stabilize finances.
Increasing Financial Pressures Drive Asset Sales
A coalition of councils representing second-tier cities in the UK reported that six out of ten of local authorities are planning to dispose of properties to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.
Local governments have in the past come under fire for selling public land and land to shore up their finances, but they contend they must proceed to raise vital cash from property disposals or declare themselves bankrupt.
The group said that a significant number of councils attempting to generate funds from a fire sale of assets represented “a clear change from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and using savings to manage growing fiscal pressures.”
Detailed Cases of Planned Sales
Medway Council in Kent said its property management strategy featured the disposal of a shopping centre in a local town and a social club in another town to raise 20 million pounds over the next half-decade.
- Gillingham golf club and commercial properties held in two English counties, which all provide rental income for Medway council, will also be disposed of under the strategy.
Local Levy Increases and Broader Fiscal Strains
The survey of local authorities in the coalition, which covers several urban centers, further found that more than 70% of councils will need to increase council taxes next April to address the growing cost of core provisions, increased rates of homelessness, and a longstanding housing shortage.
Medway council explained it will proceed with asset sales after steep rises in the cost of children services, support for vulnerable learners, elderly and disability services, and short-term housing.
“We are adopting creative strategies but some of these require time to achieve both better provisions and financial savings,” said a council leader.
He added: “We face demographic pressures which will continue to increase the strains we have. As a unitary authority, we had a 91% cut in our central funding from over the past decade, which is extremely difficult.”
National Trends and Projections
A survey of regional authorities this week also found local finances being strained by the growing number of children and older individuals requiring Send support.
The County Councils Network said that local shortfalls will reach £4.4bn a year by the end of the decade, as they grapple to cope with rising needs.
Ministers have put off scheduled changes to the special educational needs framework until the coming year after a white paper outlining those reforms has been postponed.
Disadvantage and Funding Shortfalls
According to the most recent indices of deprivation (IMD) covering UK local authorities, many participating urban areas were among the most deprived in the country.
- “Participating urban centers like several major towns rank in the top 30 across the country under the 2025 deprivation indices,” said the study.
“Although only a single urban area is among the ten most deprived for deprived neighbourhoods countrywide, urban areas are far more likely to be in the most deprived fifth of the nation. The data underscores the scale of difficulties confronting municipal officials across major urban centers in the next twelve months,” the analysis concluded.
“Council officials have been clear about the need for a equitable and lasting funding system that reflects and responds to the actual extent of deprivation and need,” stated Michael Mordey.
“Without this, local authorities will continue to face impossible choices around which essential services to fund, and which to reduce, to the detriment of their residents.”
A fifth of local authorities have cut or compromised social care provision in the past 12 months, the survey revealed.
